I walked out back last night and was lucky the dogs didn’t follow me, because there was a snake just outside the kitchen door. Good thing the outside light was on or I might not have been able to see it and keep my distance. I went back in and called Donna. She grabbed a flashlight and together we went out to see if we could identify it. We both got a good look at it as it tried to find a place to hide. I got a photo of it under our garden wagon. Polly joined us and was able to get another photo. Whatever it was, it appeared to be young, since it was only about two feet long.
 |
 |
You can’t see its tail in the photos, but we observed black and white stripes and what appeared to be a rattle, and that, plus the photos, helped us with the ID: it’s a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, probably juvenile, common to this area, and quite venomous. We locked the dogs in overnight, and this morning Donna, Polly, and I searched the back yard and patio, prepared to call the fire department to have it removed if it was still here, but it seems to have moved on. Fingers crossed.
Not that they’re anything to worry about, but you know what we haven’t seen around here for years now? Tarantulas, juvenile or otherwise.
A friend and fellow Hash House Harrier is writing a book about the history of hashing, a subject I’ve long been interested it, and has asked me to review a draft of his work. He’s really getting into detail, beginning with the history of running itself — literally going back to cavemen days — so there’s a lot to read. When I wrote about the history of hashing, I always tried to keep it short, fearing hashers wouldn’t want to read anything too demanding. Donna was always after me to write a book, but I was content to blog or contribute short pieces to the various hashing magazines that have popped up (and quickly died) over the years. I like to write, but a book? It’s not me. Anyway, if you want to see what I’ve written about the history of hashing and the Hash House Harriers, click here. Also here. And last but not least, here.
I admit it. I’m a conspiracy theorist. Can you blame me? Could the staging of “assassination attempt” photos at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, be any more obvious? Never mind the other tells, the odd behavior of the Secret Service agents, their failure to keep Trump out of the line of fire, the cowardly target’s defiant fist-raising “bravery,” the miraculously-healed ear, that fact that Trump doesn’t talk about it ever — this short video shows it was all about getting the money shot that clinched the election.
View on Threads
People are talking about this now because it happened one year ago, and I expect pretty soon the conversation will move on to other outrages, but I thought it was staged from the get-go, and said so, and as time goes on my opinion has only hardened. I’m just surprised no one with insider knowledge has blabbed yet, or that the media hasn’t dug into it. Is everyone really so afraid of Trump?
Kinda hard to talk about the staged assassination attempt and not talk about Epstein, the other thing everyone’s talking about now. My opinion? We’ve known all the important stuff about Epstein for years, since Trump’s first term and possibly before. Trump’s long friendship with Epstein, his flights on the Lolita Express, the involvement of other prominent men — Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew and all that crowd — the 13-year-old girl who said Trump raped her and then threatened her and her family to keep her quiet, etc. What more are we going to learn from the Epstein files? What will change if they’re released? Will a single man join Gislane Maxwell in prison?
Ha! You know the answer to that as well as I do. More likely, MAGA will decide pedophilia is just fine (as long as you’re Republican, of course).